A 'Redibike' event was inaugurated by Telangana Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao here on Thursday.
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories joined hands with 'Cykul', a cycle company, to lunch India's largest cycle sharing event 'Redibike' here with an aim to promote a healthier and environment-friendly mode of travel in the city.
The event opened with a fleet of 400 easy to ride cycles available across 10 stations in the city. The programme is currently being rolled out in the financial district and Gachibowli area, a 15-km stretch from IDBI junction to Cyient.
The cycle facility comes at a monthly charge of Rs. 375 and it will be available from 6 a.m. to 10p.m. on weekdays.
Speaking on the occasion, the I-T Minister promised that people would see some improvements in the city's infrastructure, especially for bi-cycling.
"Yes, Hyderabad has challenges infrastructure wise, I agree. I have been getting a lot of angry tweets and angry Facebook messages as well about how the bad the roads are being of late. Things are getting better; please bear with us some more time. What we are doing is not usual run-of-the-mill stuff; in fact, we are milling all the roads and we are reeling them completely so that it's not layer on layer on layer being laid so often. We are trying to mill it completely and ensue that the next rainy season, next monsoon, rains don't get our roads in bad shape again," he said.
"So, we are trying to do that ASAP (as soon as possible). In two and a half years of our government, I have realised that things don't move as quickly as you want, but we are trying and we are pushing. It takes a bit of time," said Rao.
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"But through Industrial Infrastructure Cooperation, we will be taking over the entire I-T Corridor. In fact, we are calling tenders and the entire stretch the I-T Corridor here will have good brand new facilities. I hope this work to be completed in the next four-five months," said Rao.
"More importantly, I think, pedestrians' rights, bi-cyclers' rights and just the fact that people are even unable to cross roads across different busy roads in Hyderabad - these are the basic things that we need to change. Get footpath in place, get some place for people to walk, and not just on the road, but also by the side of the road. So, there are some basic needs things that we need to sort out. I promise that you will see some improvements, especially for bi-cycling," he added.